KTM Australia press release:

KTM RC390 Racing Team rider Max Croker has taken his very first Australian championship win on the new model, in a wild weekend of racing in the Hi-Tec Batteries Australian Supersport Over–300 Cup at Winton Raceway in Victoria.

Tom Bramich won the Over-300s from Zac Levy, with Jack Mahaffey third.

Croker qualified second-fastest for the event on KTM’s scalpel-sharp, LAMS-approved road-registrable weapon, and in the last two laps of race one was poised to fight it out for the win when he tucked the front tyre and slid into the trackside infield in the same moment as Oli Bayliss.

Croker – who is the leader of the concurrently run Australasian series – bounced back in the second, however, to take his KTM RC 390 to his first win of the series.

Sadly, that was where the good fortune ended for Croker, who, while contesting a podium finish in the third race was inadvertently handlebar-tapped entering a turn and ended up dragged into the off-field with his leg caught in the back of another rider’s bike!

Fortunately, relatively unhurt, he finished the day with 19th place and slipped only one spot to eleventh in the championship.

Round two winner, outstanding fifteen-year-old Billy Van Eerde, spent the weekend chasing in vain the setup he needed to turn race winning lap times, but could only salvage DNF, 11, 14 for 15th overall after he was felled in spectacular fashion by another rider at the start of race one.

The setback saw him relinquish the championship lead at Winton, and he will enter the next round in fifth in the championship.

Dirt track ace Jared Brook continues to relish the opportunity to learn the road racing ropes, and rode his KTM Racing Australia/Wide Bay Motorcycles RC390 to 18th on the day, and he holds 13th in the championship.

For more information on KTM motorcycles visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/KTMAustralia.

Max Croker – KTM RC 390: “It was a good weekend, we were very, very fast and we had people worried everywhere. We’ve got people saying we’re cheating already, so that always means you’re going well. I was headed for P1 in qualifying but Oli Bayliss had a good tow behind me and pinched it off me. We got a good start in the first and I think I lead the whole way until lap 5 when Jack Mahaffey went up the inside and as we flicked over for the next corner both OIi and I lost the front and crashed out. I now own the lap record for the Over 300s though, which is some consolation. I lead the re-started race two until more people crashed again and they ended up declaring it with us winning, so that was great. In race three I was battling for second when another rider came together with me and caught my handlebar and I fell again. My leg got caught in his rear wheel and I slid about 50-60 meters behind his bike. My handlebar was bent so I couldn’t run the re-run. It’s unfortunate to have had a couple of crashes, but at least we won one.”

Billy Van Eerde – KTM RC 390: “We never got to do the test there, so we didn’t arrive with a set up, and going in with no experience on that track, we were a bit behind from the start, and we tried some good stuff but also some wrong stuff. I just couldn’t get the feel the way I wanted it and my lap times weren’t great. I started from 17th on the grid and in the first race I got a perfect start and I made up three rows to be inside the top ten, but then two riders fell at T1 and my front wheel hit one of their back wheels which made me crash. I couldn’t make it out for the re-run because the gear shifter had broken, and then in the second I got an alright start and got 11th. Race three became a three-lap race after the crash, but I didn’t have my bike in gear on the line so I got a shocking start. I actually came through pretty well to get 14th. And I was happy to salvage points. We came out fifth in the championship, 27 points behind first, so it’s not bad-bad, and at Darwin we’ll be able to do the test day and hopefully I can run up the front and get some more championship points.”

Jarrad Brook – KTM RC 390: “It was a pretty solid weekend for us, we learned a lot, changed a lot suspension-wise, and got two solid top-15 finishes from starting 22nd on the grid.We worked on transferring more weight onto the back by adjusting the fork and the rear ride height, and I’m getting more and more comfortable each time I get on the bike. Every session I’m dropping time over my previous sessions, so it’s going well. I’m loving the new challenge of racing with different people, it’s great fun. The KTM RC 390 is an awesome bike to ride, the power is nice and smooth on it, it’s great.”